The complex nature of modern vehicle production makes it inefficient to assemble all of a vehicle's systems and subsystems at a single production facility. Accordingly, a common approach is to disburse the assembly process such that subsystem vendors are responsible for assembling one or more subsystem at an offsite facility. These subsystems are then provided to the vehicle builder who is responsible for integrating all of the vehicle systems and subsystems into a complete product.
Tire/wheel assemblies are often considered a “subsystem” as described above and they are commonly assembled and tested by a subsystem provider before they are turned over to a vehicle manufacturer for assembling to a vehicle. Tire/wheel assembly plants typically incorporate “assembly lines” which are effective for mounting vehicle tires to vehicle wheels and performing additional process steps necessary to produce a tire/wheel assembly that is vehicle worthy. For example, additional process steps may involve matching tire sizes and styles with the appropriate wheel, mounting valve stems in wheels, pressurizing the tire/wheel assembly, balancing, and testing. A bead seating operation may also be included (bead seating involves flexing the tire to remove microscopic air bubbles that may have become trapped between the tire bead and the wheel bead seat during the tire mounting operation). Additionally, tire/wheel assemblies fitted with tire pressure monitor sensors (TPM sensors) may undergo TPM testing. TPM sensors are used to monitor the tire's air pressure and radio transmit tire pressure information to a receiver located in the vehicle.
In order to accomplish the transportation/manipulation, and testing of the tire/wheel assemblies, many complex operations must be implemented and followed at the tire/wheel assembly plant, and accordingly, an orderly scheme for transporting the tire/wheel assembly within the assembly plant must be employed in order to efficiently move high volumes of product through the plant. The present invention sets forth systems, apparatuses, and methods for efficiently transporting, assembling, and testing wheels, tires, and tire/wheel assemblies through an assembly plant.
Many devices must be used to manipulate the tire/wheel assemblies during the assembly, and testing process. The present invention sets forth several systems used in a high volume production environment for manipulating and testing tire/wheel assemblies.
Several systems for manipulating a tire/wheel assembly disclosed herein relate to a tire inflation apparatus. Also set forth herein are several systems for seating a tire bead to a wheel bead seat to ensure that the tire is properly seated to the wheel bead seat. During the process of installing the vehicle tire to the vehicle wheel, microscopic air bubbles may become entrapped between the engagement surface defined between the tire and the wheel. If these microscopic air bubbles are not removed prior to balancing the wheel, they may escape once the tire/wheel assembly is mounted to a vehicle and the vehicle is operated under normal driving conditions. The escaping entrapped air may cause the tire/wheel assembly to become imbalanced. Out-of-balance tires often require warranty work to be performed either within the assembly plant or at a dealership in order to properly re-balance the tires. Warranty work not only is expensive but can lead to customer discontent. In order to eliminate the tire balance issue discussed above, the present invention incorporates a means of disrupting at least one of a tire or a wheel to ensure proper tire bead seating against the wheel bead seat.